Postby Chris Hurst » September 10th, 2010, 8:28 am
I stopped flying full sized gliders a few years ago so I may be a little out of date however.....
The rules for full sized gliders are slowly changing but, until very recently (or maybe still) there is no legal requirement for a glider to have a C of A. Equally there is no requirement for a glider pilot to hold any kind of licence in the UK. In fact the vast majority of gliders had a C of A issued by the BGA and virtually all pilots were "qualified" via the BGA system. However, operating a glider outside of the BGA system was / is not illegal.
Therefore, there is nothing to be exempted from!
The above applied to pure gliders AND those with an engine which could sustain them in flight but not to aircraft which could self launch.
You could (in theory) fit large servos and ballast to a full sized glider and fly it by radio control as the 150KG upper limit doesn't apply either.
Obviously gliders are still subject to the provisions of the ANO.